The eye test could have told anyone that, but the numbers since the All-Star break for the Nuggets starting shooting guard back up what has been plain to see.

Prior to the All-Star break, Harris let the offense come to him. Sometimes it did, sometimes it didn’t. The net result of it was the second-year player taking just 9.3 shots per game despite owning one of the highest shooting percentages on the team. But after it, after many including himself felt he deserved, but didn’t get, a spot on the U.S. Team in the Rising Stars Challenge, he’s taken matters into his own hands.

In the five games post-All Star going into Monday’s game against Memphis, Harris has upped his attempts to 12.2 per game. He’s shooting 44.3 percent in those tries, as opposed to 46.2 prior to the break. And his 3-point attempts are up by one per game, going from 3.5 prior to the break to 4.8 post-break. Read more…

Nuggets forward Danilo Gallinari rubs the head of Nikola Jokic after he walks off the court for a timeout during the team’s 112-93 over Toronto on Feb. 1. (Photo by AAron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post)

The Nuggets are back in action on Friday, when coach Michael Malone revisits his old stomping grounds — Sacramento — for the first and only time this season since he was fired there a season ago. They enter that game playing some of their best basketball of the season having on four of their last six games and 10 of their last 19.

Individually, there is a lot going on. Here are notes on every Nuggets player coming out of the All-Star break. In alphabetical order.

Darrell Arthur: The forward missed the last five games going into the break due to a sore left quad, but the team hopes he is able to return to action on Friday after the extended break. Nagging injuries chipped away at what was a solid start to his season as he ended up either playing through pain consistently or not playing at all. Arthur is averaging 7.0 points and 4.0 rebounds in 46 games this season. Known as a pick-and-pop power forward, Arthur has added more rolls to the basket and sprinkled in some post-ups as well.

Will Barton: One of the biggest surprises in the NBA this season, Barton has exceeded the team’s expectations in nearly every area and has already played more minutes this season (1,540) than the previous two seasons combined (1,370). He’s second on the team in scoring at 15.5 points per game, and is one of the Nuggets’ best shooters with averages of 45.5 percent from the field, 38.0 percent from 3-point range and 85.5 percent from the free throw line. He’s sizzling in February, shooting 53.5 percent and is a +11.8 in the month. Barton’s play has earned him mention for both the Sixth Man and Most Improved awards. Teams have already approached the Nuggets in trades for him, but those were rebuffed. Read more…

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BOSTON — The elation of being selected to the Rising Stars Challenge quickly wore off for Emmanuel Mudiay when he realized one very important teammate was not named to the team.

Gary Harris.

“I was kind of more upset than happy because he didn’t get in it,” Mudiay said. “I felt like he should have gotten in it. It would have been definitely fun going with me him and Nikola. But I know he’s going to keep working on his game and prove to everyone he should have been on that list. But we all know in this locker room that he should have been on that list.”

Harris would have been part of the U.S. Team in the game, which uses a U.S. vs. World format. There are six guards on the roster — Jordan Clarkson (L.A. Lakers), D’Angelo Russell (L.A. Lakers), Elfrid Payton (Orlando), Marcus Smart (Boston), Rodney Hood (Utah), and Zach LaVine (Minnesota). Read more…

PORTLAND, ORE. — The Nuggets rode the wave as long as they could, mixing and matching and patching and cajoling. Another night, another lineup. Another ‘step up’ player to lean on. And all the while facing the NBA’s top teams.

Inevitably, there were going to be diminishing returns.

The Nuggets are at that point. No Danilo Gallinari, no Emmanuel Mudiay, no Jusuf Nurkic and no Wilson Chandler. On any given night there’s been no Jameer Nelson, no Darrell Arthur, no Gary Harris and no Joffrey Lauvergne. The Nuggets have not spent one day this season with a full, available roster. And with Chandler being out for the season, they never will. Read more…

Nuggets shooting guard Gary Harris has missed five straight games since suffering a concussion on Nov. 27. (Brent Lewis, The Denver Post)

Amid a host of players who did not practice for the Nuggets on Wednesday was the welcome sight of one who did.

Shooting guard Gary Harris.

Harris went through his first full contact practice since suffering a concussion against the San Antonio Spurs on Nov. 27. He’s missed every game since then, five in all, and the Nuggets have missed him. He was one of the Nuggets more reliable shooters and is arguably the team’s best defender. Read more…

CHICAGO — In the midst of a seven-game losing streak, the Nuggets have made progress in an area that will be tested Wednesday night at Chicago.

Three-point defense.

In the last three games, the Nuggets are holding opponents to just 31 percent shooting from the arc. It’s a vast improvement from the huge numbers and percentages the team had been allowing for most of the season.

“Obviously, that’s something that we’ve done a lot better in our last three games,” said Nuggets coach Michael Malone after Wednesday morning’s shootaround at the United Center. “We’re holding teams to 91 points per game in our last three, 45 percent from the field and 31 from three. That’s great because prior to that we were one of the worst 3-point shooting defensive teams in the league.” Read more…

On one thing he would change about how the Nuggets are playing: If I had to say one thing, it would probably be more on offense, and it would be valuing and sharing the ball. And the reason why I say that is we’re 29th in the league in points allowed off of turnovers. So we’re going into every game giving up 20.2 points a night. I also say share the ball because all too often we have too many possessions where we lack ball movement.

And the quality of shot that we get is almost just as bad as a turnover. It ignites the other team’s break. So, if we can value the ball, we can share the ball and get the best percentage shot that we can, then I think we give our defense a chance to get stops. But all too often our offense is really putting our defense in a compromising situation. Read more…

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Nuggets guard Will Barton in a game earlier this season against Oklahoma City. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)

Will Barton’s not the guy to hand out bulletin-board material, but he’s not going to lie, either.

Facing his former team, Portland, is going to stir up some emotion.

“If I said it didn’t, you would say I lied anyway, so I’m not going to say that,” Barton said, smiling. “The main focus with me really is we’ve lost two in a row, we haven’t won a game at home, so it’s time to get a win. I try to put (Portland) in the back of my mind and just go out there and attack this game just like I do any other game.”

This is the second time Barton faces the Trail Blazers, the team that drafted him in 2012. Last year, he played against them a little over a month after Portland traded him to Denver as part of the deal that sent Arron Afflalo to the Pacific Northwest. Barton was good in that contest, scoring 12 points on 6-of-8 shooting and adding seven rebounds. Read more…

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Sure, it’s just two and half weeks into the preseason. But there are some things I think I know. The roster and the starting lineup are two of them. Injuries and solid performances are making things clearer from a who starts and who are the reserves standpoint.

But beyond that it gets muddier.

There are many players deserving of ample playing time, but not everyone will get it. This won’t be a repeat of the last couple of seasons that sometimes saw 10 or more players play in a half on a regular basis, which led to confusion and consternation. So, taking a stab at this: Read more…

Emmanuel Mudiay goes up for a layup during the Nuggets game Tuesday night at the Dallas Mavericks. (Tony Gutierrez, The Associated Press)

Preseason results are made to be forgotten, but the way teams arrive at the totals is what sticks. Individual performances, adjusting to new systems and schemes — and for some players, a new league — are the things seared into memory banks and dissected.

The Nuggets split their first two exhibition games, but it is the component parts that mattered as they make their way toward the regular season. And to that end, a lot is happening. Offense was kept simple. They ran off of misses and mostly the fast break faded into quick high screen action to get the ball handler into the paint and keep the action flowing toward the rim. In the half court, the Nuggets ran NBA staples, “pistol” and “horns” plays as much as anything else.

Jusuf Nurkic one of a host of young Nuggets already on the roster who will play in summer league. (David Zalubowski, The Associated Press)

If you watched the fourth quarter of the Nuggets regular season finale against Golden State, the individuals on the court in powder blue for the most part are players you’ll see again when summer league rolls around.

Usually an annual mystery until a week or so before it begins, the Nuggets summer league roster is already pretty known and stocked with players that will be the core of the team in their continued growth in the NBA.

To those unfamiliar with Zach LaVine, a quick YouTube search will provide an entertaining glimpse of his mind-boggling athleticism, and size. The kid can jump out of the gym, and his natural talents attracted numerous suitors ahead of the June draft.

The Nuggets were one of them.

LaVine worked out for the Nuggets with the hope of landing a roster spot in Denver, but the Nuggets ultimately decided to pass, trading down on draft day and letting the Timberwolves take LaVine.

Ahead of the Wolves’ meeting with the Nuggets at Pepsi Center on Friday, Shaw was asked about that pre-draft workout and his overall impression of LaVine, Minnesota’s starting point guard while Ricky Rubio nurses an ankle injury.

“I think we took as good and as long a look as we could. We were impressed by his workout,” Shaw said. “There were quite a few guys within that range that we looked at. But more so with me, I was just an observer. I’ve always said that whoever we put out on their on the floor, I just want to coach and leave that to the front office. So that’s the direction that they decided to go in, and I think that everyone saw his reaction when he was drafted by the T-Wolves. But I think that now that he’s there, he’s getting an opportunity to play and start, I’m sure he’s happy that he ended up where he is.”Read more…

Going small. Timofey Mozgov might have finished with a double-double (10 points and 10 rebounds), but the Nuggets spent a big chunk of the game employing small lineups. The most effective lineup of the night? Nate Robinson/Gary Harris/Danilo Gallinari/Darrell Arthur/J.J. Hickson. They spent six minutes on the court together, in the second quarter, and here’s how that broke down: They scored 20 points – yes, in just six minutes – on 8-of-13 shots (61.5 percent), 2-of-4 from the 3-point line with six rebounds, six assists and were a plus-14 on the night, the best plus-minus mark of any Nuggets lineup on Monday night. They were only outscored by the Nuggets starting lineup, which scored 34 points as a group in 17 minutes. Read more…

Nuggets guard Arron Afflalo clears out some room between himself and New York guard Pablo Prigioni during Sunday’s game. (Photo by Alex Goodlett/Getty Images)

NEW YORK – Three takeaways the morning after the Nuggets’ 109-93 loss to the Knicks at Madison Square Garden on Sunday.

1. Connelly staying calm. None of this is what anyone in the Nuggets organization, most of all general manager Tim Connelly, wanted. The Nuggets’ 2-7 start – with a game coming up in Cleveland looming – is exactly the opposite of what he’d envisioned the start for his rapidly-healing team might be. But it has underperformed. Still, at this point Connelly says he’s not pressing the panic button. “Certainly we’ve struggled,” he said after the game. “But it’s early.” Read more…

NEW YORK – Gary Harris will suit up for his second straight game, Nuggets coach Brian Shaw said Sunday morning.

The rookie impressed in his NBA debut, scoring 13 points on 6-of-10 shooting against the Indiana Pacers on Friday night. He added two steals and a block, displaying flashes of the type of defense he was known for in his two collegiate seasons at Michigan State.

“I liked the fact that he was poised,” Shaw said. “It was his first NBA action, in his hometown, and he looked like he belonged. He didn’t look back. He was very aggressive offensively, he was aggressive defensively. It was exactly what we needed. I think he got caught up a couple of times because he was going good, had a couple of heat-checks. But for the most part I was encouraged by his performance.”Read more…

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Nuggets guard Gary Harris played his first NBA game Friday, against the Pacers, scoring 13 points on 6-of-10 shooting in about 18:30 minutes in the Denver victory. After missing the first seven games of the season because of an injury, Harris got to put on a show in his home state (he’s from Fishers, about 20 miles northeast of Indianapolis), and his mom was in the stands to see it all.

Well, most of it anyway.

With about 10:20 to go in the fourth quarter, he drove to the bucket and completely posterized 6-foot-11 Ian Mahinmi. NBA cameras caught every angle, but his mother, Joy Harris, a former WNBA player for the Detroit Shock, didn’t catch one.

Thank goodness for YouTube.

Ok yes I missed the dunk live but I've watched the replay 100 times now.

The Nuggets open the 2014-15 season Wednesday at home against the Pistons, and despite the bleak outlook many in and out of the NBA have for Denver this year, GM Tim Connelly has high hopes.

After a season in which they turned in one of their worst records ever (36-46), the Nuggets are, for the most part, finally healthy. They bring with him some new faces and depth that few teams can match.

Connelly who will be at Session Kitchen this evening as part of The Denver Post’s Nuggets Night, along with Christopher Dempsey and Benjamin Hochman (it’s not too late to buy tickets!), joined The Press Box Monday morning to weigh in on the season, and some players he has views as key pieces to the team’s success.

“The core of this team has won together, and they’ve done it before as presently constructed,” Connelly said. “Some of our peripheral guys are guys that we can count on, our depth makes us unique. And the second year under both (coach) Brian (Shaw) and myself, there’s a lot more continuity that often times helps with success. I’m optimistic by nature, but objectively, we have a bunch of guys that are good to very good NBA players who are playing with a chip on their shoulder.”

With the addition of 7-footer Jusuf Nurkic via the draft, the Nuggets are now stacked at the center position, where he’ll fight for minutes with veterans JaVale McGee and Timofey Mozgov.Read more…

Faried, who is coming off somewhat of a breakout summer with Team USA during the FIBA World Cup, was voted as the league’s best role player (tied with San Antonio’s Boris Diaw), and earned the fourth-most votes for the best offensive rebounder (7.1 percent), as well as the toughest player in the league (7.4 percent, tied with Sacramento’s Reggie Evans).

Faried also garnered the fifth-most votes (7.4 percent) among players expected to have a breakout season in 2014-15.

Nuggets F Danilo Gallinari goes for a layup in his team’s preseason game at Chicago on Monday. (AP Photo/Jeff Haynes)

The question, as it seemingly always has been for the Nuggets, is can they play fast and still play solid defense?

Early on in camp, Nuggets coach Brian Shaw predicted defense to be one of the areas his team will experience the most growth. “I think the biggest area of improvement that you’ll see is going to be on the defensive end,” Shaw said.

A lot of that had to do with adding personnel – shot blocking in JaVale McGee, perimeter defense in Arron Afflalo and Gary Harris. Read more…

NBA.com conducted it’s annual survey of 38 rookies during their photo shoots last Sunday and tallied their votes on who will be the league’s top rook next season, who will have the best career as a pro, who is the most athletic and much more.

Nuggets rookie and No. 19 overall pick, Gary Harris, rated high among his peers for his defense. He was also voted as the fifth (tied) most-overlooked rookie. Doug McDermott, the sharpshooter acquired by Chicago with the Nuggets’ original No. 11 pick, is projected to be the top shooter and to go on to have a great career.

With training camps approaching and the season not far behind, we’ll soon see if the rookies’ assessments of each other are accurate. Until then, here’s a look at some of the top vote-getters for each category, with the percentage of votes they received.

And if you’re interested as to why Zach LaVine was rated so high for his athleticism, you may want to watch the clip at the bottom.

Chris Dempsey arrived at The Denver Post in Dec. 2003 after seven years at the Boulder Daily Camera, where he primarily covered the University of Colorado football and men's basketball teams. A University of Colorado-Boulder alumnus, Dempsey covers the Nuggets and also chips in on college sports.